Monday, March 1, 2010

Heroes Volume 5: Redemption

Let me start off by saying that I have no love in my heart for Heroes. I thought it was good starting out, but started spiraling out of relevance very quickly.

I think the problem with “Redemption” is that it occurred right after a very, terrible season finale. We finally get a Peter vs Sylar fight, with Nathan thrown in there as well, and they close the door on us. The only reasonable explanation to do something so horrific to a viewing audience is budget cuts and even though it’s reasonable, it certainly isn’t acceptable.

But the absolute worst thing about the season finale was the fact that Sylar kills Nathan. It’s not because I was sad to see him go. Nathan has been a backstabbing, manipulative, easy to manipulate, jerk since the very first season. I was glad to see him go. How can you not expect hunting down people with powers when you yourself has powers is going to end well? Anyway, the terribly written part about it is that we all know that Claire has the power to heal people with her blood. I don’t understand why it didn’t cross Angela’s and Bennet’s mind when Bennet was actually brought back from the dead! So they instead change Sylar into Nathan via Matt Parkman in order to keep the world from thinking that a super powered freak killed an important super powered freak (I guess they’re not into sane cover ups like airplane crashes anymore...even though they eventually did that).

So when Redemption opens up, I’m still upset. Every story with fake Nathan that may have been interesting is really stupid because I can’t get the fact out of my head that he shouldn’t be dead in the first place. And it’s not like the writers are trying to forget that Claire’s blood can heal, because Claire mentions it herself when she finds out the Hiro is sick. I do find some of fake Nathan’s stories interesting, but it’s evolved from something beyond stupid. It truly was an unforgivable mistake. Epic fail.

Hiro is dying from a tumor and all of his fans are on edge concerning Hiro’s life. I don’t know why. It’s not like they were ever going to kill him. They don’t have the guts to kill important cast members that people like. (Consider Nikki. She’s part of a triplet set. So if Tracy dies, we have a backup.) Hiro tries to correct mistakes in his life by changing things that he messed up. He hooks up Ando and his sister then he goes in the past and saves Charlie’s life. It’s interesting that Hiro ends up needing Sylar’s help to save her after he saves her from Sylar. But the most sappiest thing in the world happens in the past. Hiro tells Sylar that he’s going to die alone and then a fear is born inside of Sylar. It neuters him...badly.

Charlie ends up getting kidnaped and lost through time via bad guy, so Hiro can’t be with her anyway, but at least she lived a long and happy life...with someone else.

How does Hiro eventually get healed though? He has a wonky dream while he goes under surgery. He’s under trial for using his powers for selfish reasons. He’s going to die until he pleads guilty and acknowledges that he was being selfish. Then his dead mother heals him. How her powers work beyond the grave is beyond me. It’s very...Disney channel.

The biggest complaint was for the bad guys. There was a carnival of super freaks who were led by a madman named Samuel. I didn’t think it was stupid or anything. I don’t get why so many people disliked it. Samuel’s powers actually grew when other super freaks were around him, which explains his community and why he was trying to recruit. His real story was that he wanted to be loved and when he couldn’t get it, he was going to kill everyone. That’s basic mad villain formula. It works.

What disappointed me was that the epic climax of the season finale ended with “Everyone! Lets leave!” So they leave. Samuel fights Peter with his powers and Peter matches him ridiculously fast. You would think a guy whose been working on his powers for about forty years could easily beat someone who just picked it up. No. Good guys have to win. Right?

Matt Parkman was being driven crazy by Sylar trapped in his head. So after Sylar gets his body back (and Nathan officially dies), Matt decided to burry him in his worst nightmare. While Sylar is comatose, Matt does the most brilliant thing ever and builds a brick wall to trap Sylar in his basement...in his house...where he lives with his wife and baby boy. BRILLIANT!!! I can see why they kept Matt on LOST for more than the pilot episode (which they didn’t).

Peter used to be my favorite character, but I find him to be quite useless now. He can only contain one power at a time now, delaying the inevitable Sylar vs Peter fight. He gets a new love interest, who is a waste of screen time. I’m sorry. I don’t care if the deaf girl can see colors instead of hearing sound. I want to see fights like X-Men vs The Brotherhood. I understand budgets and all that, but Smallville had more action sequences in a two hour movie than Heroes had all season. Peter is pissed off when he finds out his mom has been keeping this major secret about his brother’s death. Of course he’s not pissed off enough to cut off his crazy, shady mother. It’s just mild stuff after all. Then he goes on this revenge kick against Sylar. Then he sees in a dream that the deaf girl, Emma, is going to be in trouble and the only person who can ironically and oh so predictably save her is Sylar. He gets trapped in Sylar’s lonely nightmare and they work out their differences within one episode and Sylar is a good guy now. Yay? I mean, they didn’t do that already...unless they did. Wait...I think they did. Huh...

I think Claire’s story was probably the most annoying out of all of them. She wants to desperately have a normal life. That’s exactly why she jumped out of a window at school. What she really desperately wants is attention. That’s why she didn’t let her dad erase the memory of her creepy, lesbian roommate Gretchen. Claire wants a normal life so bad that she considers joining a freak show circus. That’s why she cuts herself in front of her mom’s idiot boyfriend during Thanksgiving dinner. Claire also has a revelation that she’s like Sylar in a way of building walls and that’s why she won’t hold Gretchen’s hand in the cafeteria. Hmm. Silly me. I just assumed it was because she wasn’t ready to be turned out by a creepy lesbian girl who is obviously obsessed with her. I’m sorry. Claire’s last attraction was a hot boy who she made out with under water. I don’t see how she can go to Gretchen after that.

Sylar and Claire also had some time together. Some magical ink showed Sylar what he needed and it was picture of Claire. Once he had a conversation with her, he concluded that he needed to lose his powers in order to be happy, because Hiro made him sad and now he can’t kill people, which usually makes him happy. Could it be that Sylar maybe just had the hots for Claire? I mean, they’re going to live forever. It would solve his “alone” problem and the only reason why they give Claire so much air time is because she’s pretty. He did even suggest it last season. He also kissed her.

Bennet has a rocky road with his daughter. They almost end up being buried alive together. Almost. You see, Tracy magically found them and created a puddle for them to float to the surface. I might have to watch that again. I’m a little fuzzy on the details about how any of that made sense! Especially since no one knew where they were. Bennet’s new girlfriend was right above them, but they never showed that she even had a clue that they were under ground.

I was so looking forward to Bennet dying. They could have at least let him die dramatically after they teased that someone was going to die. It was Nathan by the way...but they actually killed him LAST SEASON!!!!

So since Claire so desperately wants a normal life, she jumps off a ferris wheel in front of a news camera to reveal the world her powers...because that’s so going to work out perfectly on her quest to live a “normal” life.

In conclusion, I have no hope for this show. It’s probably going to be mediocre until it’s canceled. At least Smallville is getting better.